Built more than four decades ago, the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens is an outdated facility that sorely needs to be redesigned, modernized and focused more on education, according to zoo officials.

Many exhibits are laid out in an “old style” in which visitors simply stroll through the zoo near Sanford without learning much about the animals or their habitat, officials said. The animals also are mismatched. A one-horned rhino, for example, lives near the 18-foot giraffe, even though rhinos are native to Asia and giraffes are found in Africa.

“We’re a 40-plus-year-old facility, and zoos have changed a lot since then,” said Charles Davis, president of the zoo’s board of directors. “Zoos are now becoming more as educational facilities. … So we’re making some changes.”

On Tuesday, Davis and other leaders of one of Seminole County’s main tourist attractions will present county commissioners with a master plan that details $85 million worth of renovations and improvements over the next 20 years. Officials plan to pay for the upgrades through revenue from visitors, donations, philanthropic support and — they hope — additional government funding, including from the county.

The renovations are expected to drive up the number of visitors by 30 percent over the next two decades — after years of static attendance numbers — to the zoo, off U.S. Highway 17-92, just east of Interstate 4. About 900 people visit the zoo each day.

Plans call for spending up to $54 million to expand animal exhibits and build dozens of new ones along with devoting $8 million toward a new entrance with a Madagascar theme into the zoo.

Animal exhibits would be laid out in a “zoogeographic format” or within three areas — Asia, Americas and Africa — depending on an animal’s native habitat.

But officials said the zoo’s primary focus over the next two decades will be to serve as a “living laboratory.” Under the plan, about $18 million would be invested in teaching facilities and educational programs geared for students from grade school through college-graduate levels.

Officials envision a place where students can do research and develop careers such as veterinarians, zoologists, biologists and animal trainers.

The zoo’s location makes it an ideal place for students from nearby schools, including Seminole State College, the University of Central Florida, Stetson University, Rollins College and the University of Florida, zoo President Philip Flynn said.

“We have the animals and the core competency,” Flynn said. “So we want you, as students, to come to us. We want to be available to you as students.”

Jackie Wallace, a spokeswoman for the Houston Zoo, one of the largest in the country, said zoos across the U.S. are modernizing by providing visitors with a more educational and interactive experiences.

“It’s more and more about understanding the animal that you’re seeing, and how it connects to something greater,” Wallace said. “When you see a gorilla, you learn that by recycling your phone, you can help save the gorillas.”

Cellphones contain coltan, which is mined in the deep forests of central Africa, home to the world’s endangered lowland gorillas.

The Houston Zoo, which attracts more than 2.5 million visitors a year, is also embarking on a 20-year master plan.

For its expansion plans, the Central Florida Zoo plans to use 17 acres that Seminole purchased in 2012 for $1.5 million to build a Wild African Safari Park. Plans for that safari park have since been dropped.

The zoo’s total property today is 132 acres. However, only about 26 acres is used for animal exhibits and visitors. The rest is wetlands and can’t be developed. The zoo leases the land from Seminole for $1 a year.

To fund its $4.2 million annual budget, the nonprofit zoo relies on visitors, donations, fundraisers and a $225,000 annual contribution from Seminole. The county money comes from Seminole’s tourist tax.

The zoo, which started in the 1930s in downtown Sanford with a lion and monkeys housed in cages near Lake Monroe, moved to its current spot in 1975. Television personality Jack Hanna served as the zoo’s director in the 1970s.

County Commissioner Lee Constantine, who serves as the commission’s liaison to the zoo board, said he looks forward to hearing more about the zoo’s master plan.

“There’s no question that zoos are going through a metamorphosis, and I applaud them for having an ambitious plan,” Constantine said. “By becoming an educational and teaching facility as part of their mission, it would attract a great deal of interest from outside of this area.”

mcomas@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5718

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